Health news: More on sex, sugar, fish, and smiling

Man’s secret to longevity: ‘Keep smiling’

Joseph Gray turned 100 last month. His secret to living long and well?

“Keep smiling,” he said, according to his daughter Ellie Gray.

Joseph is hard of hearing but is well aware of what’s going on around him. He also “reads voraciously, watches the news, follows the stock market, loves to take walks — unless it’s 120 degrees outside,” she said about her father’s routine.

Dangers hidden inside ‘healthy’ food

Dried fruit

A 2015 study on so-called healthy snack alternatives marketed towards children found that packs of raisins can contain the equivalent of more than four teaspoons of sugar.

Orange juice

One 250g glass of orange juice is estimated to contain up to 21g of sugar. (The NHS currently recommend people aged 11 and over consume just 30g of sugar a day.) It’s also believed that juice in general is assimilated by the body faster than whole fruit, which means it creates a bigger spike in your blood sugar levels and is more likely to be converted to fat.

Honey

A team of nutritionists said that honey has the same effect on the body as white sugar and high fructose corn syrup, a cheap and widely used sweetener.

Granola

Though it has been touted as a healthy breakfast alternative, experts have recently suggested that granola might be as bad for you as an average bowl of cereal. Store bought and even many homemade versions, typically contain enough sugar that it could technically be considered a dessert.

Whole wheat bread

Whole wheat bread has been touted as the healthy alternative to sliced white bread. However, whole wheat might not be so wonderful, thanks to the actions of scientists back in the 60s, who altered genes in wheat in an attempt to increase the yield, making modern wheat less nutritious than previously. Studies have also shown that eating wheat could lead to inflammation and increased cholesterol.

Fish as Medicine for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Eating fish may help reduce the joint pain and swelling of rheumatoid arthritis, a new study has found.

Researchers studied 176 people in a larger health study who had physical exams and blood tests and filled out food frequency questionnaires that indicated their consumption of various types of non-fried fish.

The study, in Arthritis Care & Research, categorized the participants into groups by fish consumption: less than one serving a month, one a month, one to two a week, and more than two a week. To rate the severity of symptoms they used a “disease activity score” that assigns a number based on the degree of swelling and pain.

Researchers say frequent ejaculation could save lives

Scientists say frequent ejaculations could be the key to keeping the semen-producing gland healthy and avoiding cancer.

In fact, in a study of almost 32,000 men published in the journal of European Urology, researchers found high levels of sexual activity can reduce the risk of contracting prostate cancer by 33 per cent.

The optimum number is 21 ejaculations per month.

We’ve done a few quick calculations and that’s equal to 252 times annually — or almost 70 percent of days in a year.

Experts aren’t exactly sure why ejaculation lowers the risk of prostate cancer, but they speculate it might help flush out cancer-causing toxins.